The Gjellestad Ship

Archaeologists armed with a motorized high resolution georadar have found a Viking ship and a large number of burial mounds and longhouses in Østfold County in Norway

The discoveries were made by the archaeologists Lars Gustavsen and Erich Nau from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) with technology developed by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro).

The Viking ship find is just below the topsoil, at a depth of approximately 50 cm initially buried in a burial mound. The digital data visualisations reveal a large and well-defined 20 m long ship-shaped structure. The data indicate that the lower part of the ship is still preserved. Further non-invasive investigations are planned to digitally map the unique find and the wider landscape.

The sensational find is located at Viksletta right next to the monumental Jell Mound in Østfold County, Norway. The team has discovered the traces of at least eight so far unknown burial mounds destroyed by ploughing. The georadar data also revealed 5 longhouses – some of them remarkably large.

Area
The ship burial forms part of a larger mound cemetery and settlement site from the Iron Age next to the monumental Jell Mound. Illustration: Lars Gustavsen, NIKU NIKUs georadar system
The Viking ship was found by georadar at Viksletta right next to the monumental Jell Mound in Østfold. Photo: Lars Gustavsen, NIKU Ship outline
The outline of the Viking ship can clearly be seen in this image from the radar data. Image: NIKU

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With the help of newly developed motorised georadar systems, NIKU's archaeologists did some major discoveries at Gjellestad - including a Viking Ship. But how does the technology work and what will happen next?